From W. B. Bowles   18 May 1877

Dear Sir,

Now that the letter is written which accompanies this, I hesitate to send it, as altho’ I pass for a man of good common sense, I cant make up my mind whether what I have written is sense or nonsense¹

The subject interests me greatly, and as I have met these speaking monkey in society all over the world I should like to account for their presence in some way or other. Their presence is not confind to the lower orders where generations of ignorance and poor living might account for them, but you find them in multituds among the higer classes where often a superficial polish serves to hide the absence of humanity beneath.—

Respy yours | W^m. B Bowles

Charles Darwin, Esq F.R.S. | London.